Sexism
Sexism Today On her way to meet up with her mom, dragging her little brother down the street recently, Samantha Fonsworth was accosted by an older African American woman, "You can not be two things at once", said yelled pointing to the horrifying poster next to her of an aborted child with a big red cross through it, "You CAN NOT be a child killer and a Christian, you CAN NOT be a homosexual and a Christian " . the image of the poster affected Samantha, this made her acknowledge the issue of womens rights and think about the older days when women couldn't make the choice of getting an abortion or not , and it was unheard of to be attracted to the same sex as yourself, this it what is called sexism to be judged by your gender or sexuality. Now-a-days women are able to make those choices and their is alot less discrimination against homosexuals. Although Samantha stated that it was the woman was entitled to her own opinion she didn't agree with how she was shouting out differences between people's sexuality and saying that it was wrong. Society in general says that today women have more equal rights to men. Society also suggests that we live in a free country. Although this is all said and much of it is true sexism still exists everywhere today. Alot of it is opinionated by our fellow American citizens but, that is also part of a free country, everyone can speak their mind and everyone can have their own opinion. Sexism in the World According to the article "Sexism" (3/30/2006) claims " Sexism is commonly considered to be dicrimination against people based on thier sex rather than their individual merits." In the article "Child rape epidemic in south Africa", sited on wikipedia , Debbie Coetzee, says that, " Abortion, pornography, filthy TV shows and movies, lack of respect for women and children, coddling criminals and rapists, these have all contributed to this crisis." She also says that the large percentage of young women being raped goes unreported and agknowledged and this also contributes to the amount of HIV/AIDs in Africa. In the article, " The Male Privilege Checklist", sited on wikipedia, Wellesley College professor Peggy McIntosh states, "men have disadvantages too - being drafted into the army, being expected to suppress emotions, and so on. These are indeed bad things - but I never claimed that life for men is all ice cream sundaes. Pointing out that men are privileged in no way denies that sometimes bad things happen to men." Although after taking up for men ahe also clearly states, "In the end, however, it is men and not women who make the most money; men and not women who dominate the government and the corporate boards; men and not women who dominate virtually all of the most powerful positions of society. And it is women and not men who suffer the most from intimate violence and rape; who are the most likely to be poor; who are, on the whole, given the short end of patriarchy's stick." Teenage Sexism Sexism is not only an issue in the adult world, alot of it exists in the adolecent world , especially in high school. At East Side Community High School , (ESCHS) students and teachers observe sexism every day. Michael Butler ESCHS 9th grade student, states that sexism occurs several times in the daily school routine, " A lot of time if a girl disrupts the class they don't get in as much trouble as the boys do." He also states that alot of the fights he sees during school hours are from girls. Another east side stundent, Tamia Wallace states that the difference in the way female students are treated is noticable. " Some times in class my female teachers are a lot more short tempered with me, and other girls than they are with the boys." Tamia says that in her high school a lot of the teachers get comfortable with the students and feel safe saying things that teachers usually don't say, "this is both good and bad, but sometimes their comments come out to be a little sexist." Tamia said one time she had a run-in at a Parent-teacher conference where a techer said the way she dresses is a distraction to her male students. Tamia offensivly replies , " i dress like any other girl in the school and it isn't fair for her to say that just because my body is different. Last but not least... Dog's are man's best friend, they say. But what about women? For many years and still to this day people of this world have referred to humans as man kind basically stating the dominant species in the human race as men. This used to be the norm in the old days when it was women's job to stay at home and have children, but now it is called sexism. although women have gained rights over the years, sexism still exists to day, more than most know. Prodominantly people know it to be used only with women, but men have to deal with it alot too. Men are often called gay by they clothes or colors they wear or even the affectation to their voice or the way they walk. In my opinoin society puts too much pressure on men to reflect a masculine identity in order to be straight. Sexism is used every day we are just to blinded by the media to see it. Websites Interesting Topics for Essays Category:External Links